Fashion historians have favored telling the stories of Western Europeans to the modern industry, but it is important to remember those that society tried to erase.

African Americans have long contributed to the American fashion scene.

Early enslaved dress practices grew out of necessity.

Cloth was made for enslaved people with the intention to only last as long as a singular season and be thrown out. This cheap, rough fabric became the modern-day precursor for fast fashion.

Enslavers tried hard to remove individuality from slaves’ dress early on by purchasing uniform outfits and limiting clothing items.

A portrait of Harriet Jacobs. (Contributed/Hammond-Harwood-House Museum)

“I have a vivid recollection of the linsey-woolsey dress given me every winter by Mrs. Flint. How I hated it! It was one of the badges of slavery,” wrote abolitionist and seamstress Harriet Jacobs.

Through accounts from enslaved women, Emma Tidwell and Rose Williams, we know slaves would create dyes from indigo and other crops grown around plantations.

Years of weaving, dying and dressmaking knowledge would allow enslaved people to rebel against the monochromatic fashions provided through colorfully, proudly designed and repurposed garments.

Elizabeth Keckly was able to buy her freedom from her enslavers due to her prowess as mantuamaker. Eventually, she went on to be the dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln.

Keckly used her money to found the Contraband Relief Association in 1862, which provided necessities to freed slaves and wounded or sick Civil War soldiers.

Keckly and Jacobs’ names have survived to this day, but the majority of these early dressmakers remain lost to history.

Many garments from this time period cannot be pinpointed to a specific dressmaker because enslaved seamstresses’ work was not considered valuable enough to mark or record.

The ones whose names have survived to this day became known for many things outside their dressmaking.

Eliza Ann Gardner made a living as a dressmaker, but she became widely known for her abolitionism and housing people within the Underground Railroad.

Dressmaking became a skill that allowed many like Jacobs, Keckly and Gardner to fund abolitionist efforts, but fashion historians have failed to discuss their contributions as pioneers and entrepreneurs in our industry.

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